The Relentless Warrior

by Rachel Higginson

  “Sure,” I answered casually. I didn’t want them to see how much their faith in me moved me. I felt like a tool for letting a few simple words have such an effect on me. They were as bad as Olivia with how she could twist me up. It must be a Taylor family trait.

  It was already late and our day had been filled with fighting, getting blown up and then traveling across continents; Liv and I were ready for bed. Laura showed us up to our rooms, Liv to her old bedroom and me to the guestroom and left us alone. Well, I had a feeling she was leaving us alone until I was settled, and then she was going to make up time with her prodigal daughter.

  Liv walked me through the bathroom instructions and where the towels and amenities were. All of our things were blown up in the back of the Mercedes. Not that there was anything special in my pack, I’d learned that lesson years ago, only to pack the necessities and the barest ones at that. And anything in Liv’s was borrowed anyway. The plane stored clothes to change into, because most of our jets were equipped with full closets filled with anything we could need. But other than a small pack of something to wear tomorrow and a toothbrush, I didn’t have anything else with me.

  “So, I’ll see you in the morning,” Liv smiled at me from the foot of the double bed neatly made up.

  “Yeah.” I took a step toward her. Her thighs balanced her weight as she tipped back and forth on the footboard. I imagined picking her up by the backs of those very slim, very enticing thighs and tossing her on to the bed behind her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She looked so relaxed at home, so easy-going and stress-free. I couldn’t stop drinking in every new, beautiful feature that presented itself to me. Her rich, purple eyes looked up at me with an emotion I couldn’t name. Her skin seemed to glow now that she was back in her own space. She was very much the picture of perfect seduction.

  And she had no idea.

  She hesitated in place and I took another step into her space. “Jericho, I just wanted to…”

  I closed the distance between us and took her hand, thinking this was as close to an invitation as I was going to get. My brain screamed for me to back off and give her space, let her come to her own conclusions. But my Magic wasn’t even mine anymore, it was firmly wrapped in hers. I didn’t know if it would ever be mine again… or if I was too far gone. And I didn’t want to know. I just wanted her to absorb me, draw me into her orbit and let me revolve around her until the sky fell around us and the sun burned out of the sky. She wiggled in place and then stopped moving completely. When she looked up at me from underneath thick, dark lashes, I knew I had never seen a more beautiful color than the bright, glittering purple blinking up at me.

  I captured her mouth before I could take another breath. I pressed my mouth against hers insistently, not letting her break away, not letting her decide this was a bad idea. My hands went naturally to her waist and I planted one of my legs between hers. I urged her chin upward so that I could deepen the kiss, my tongue sweeping across her bottom lip, begging for entrance into paradise.

  She obliged and I moaned at the contact of her wet, hot tongue against mine.

  Goddamn, she tasted sweeter than anything should.

  She whimpered under my attention, which only encouraged me to keep going. My grip tightened on her waist until my fingers dug into her lower back and my thumbs into her hips. I jerked her into me, barely in control of my own actions.

  A color field of light flashed around us, the intensity of brightness rising with each second we stayed connected like this. There was a rush of searing electricity in my veins and my blood felt like it was boiling beneath my skin.

  I grew desperate for Olivia, frantic for more of her, wild to keep her like this, to explore every inch of her.

  Savage.

  I felt savage in my need for her.

  Something was breaking inside of me- the cool, calm, collected gentleman that I wore as a shield against every other person in this world. I wasn’t the same with Liv. I was a ferocious animal. She changed me. She drew out this raw, primal, greedy creature that would do anything to possess her. She stripped me of every good intention and polite response. She forced me to face feelings so intense I didn’t think I could survive them. She demanded that I become more than a man for her, more than a good guy and more than a spectator.

  She didn’t have any idea what she was doing to me, but I couldn’t fight this any longer. This was stronger than me. This was some unexpected fate that I hadn’t seen coming.

  And I was helpless against it and her.

  So I decided I would do something I had never done in my life- I would fight for her.

  I had fought for causes, and justice. I had fought for peace. And I had fought for equality.

  But I had never fought for love. Not once.

  I’d simply cut my losses and walked away.

  When I’d risked my life for a Kingdom I half hated, I’d saved my heart and shielded it behind a wall so thick and guarded I was sure that it was impenetrable.

  But I was wrong.

  She’d gotten through every defense I’d put up. She’d slipped through my shields and security, she’d bent my resistance to her own will and she’d captured my soul completely.

  And now I would fight for her. Because maybe she didn’t know if she wanted me forever, maybe she couldn’t imagine life as an Immortal that stretched into eternity. Maybe she was afraid that what was between us would die out and our relationship would burn to ash.

  I would change that. I would prove to her that she wanted me- and no one else. And that this thing between us would last longer than us… longer than forever. I would give her a love that was so hot, so scorching and bright that it could never die out, could never fade. Things would not always be easy between us, but they would always be worth fighting for.

  Starting right now.

  I left her mouth to trail kisses down the column of her throat while she clutched at my shirt desperately. I released whatever little control I had left on my Magic and gave it to her. I infused her with everything that I was, every real, open and hidden piece of me. I sucked gently on the curve of her neck, right above her delicate collar bone and she pulled in a gasping breath. Nicking it a little roughly with my teeth, I brushed my hand beneath the swell of her breast and shuddered at the intimate contact.

  She could reduce me to a shell of a man with one swift pull of her Magic and yet I didn’t care. Sebastian was right to be worried about me. I’d felt the uneasy emptiness whenever our Magics had separated recently. And she was a true Immortal- of that I had no doubt. If she decided that I wasn’t for her, I could likely die. And if not now, it was only a matter of time, just a few more encounters like this.

  Yet I didn’t care.

  I couldn’t.

  I was too far gone. Soul mate. I’d found mine. I wouldn’t give up without a fight.

  And if I lost this… her… then so be it.

  She would be worth it.

  I drew back before I pushed her too hard. With one last slow, lingering kiss on her deliciously swollen lips, I pulled away and gazed down at her. Her eyes stayed closed for a long minute as she struggled to catch her breath and come back to herself. I admired her porcelain skin and her thick lashes that fanned out against flushed cheeks. Her lips looked well and nicely ravished and I couldn’t stop smiling at them.

  Slowly she blinked her eyes open as if coming out of a daze. The purple of her eyes had lightened just a fraction and practically glowed with some unspoken intensity.

  “I just wanted to tell you thank you.” Her voice was a hoarse rasp of unsettled desire. My smile grew. “That’s all I was going to… I just wanted to say thanks for staying with my family, for watching out for Orion.”

  “Olivia,” I promised her seriously. “I would do anything for you; especially protect you and your family. You can know that you are always safe with me. Do you understand that? Always.”

  She nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” I gr
inned again and pressed a tender kiss to those lips that were quickly becoming obsession to me. “See you in the morning.”

  “Uh-huh,” she muttered.

  Using every ounce of supernatural willpower I had, I pulled away from her. I let my fingers linger as long as they could against the soft heat of her body, but eventually separated us completely. I gave her enough room to stand up and walk away, which she did after another confusing few seconds. At the door, she did not look back at me.

  But it was alright, because I didn’t remove my Magic from hers and whether it was her dazed state or her own conscious desire, she didn’t remove hers from mine either.

  By the time I laid my head down and let my eyes close to end this day, I had begun to feel a welling hope that started somewhere in the very core of my being and spread slowly, like an unfurling fist, to every part of me.

  Damn right, I would fight for this.

  I had never known something worth fighting for more than this.

  And I was bound and determined to win this.

  To win her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Olivia

  I was talking with my parents the morning after we arrived back home, when Jericho stumbled downstairs. His jaw held a few days’ worth of growth and his eyes seemed unusually warm this morning. He walked into the kitchen, never taking his gaze off me.

  I stood over the island in my own pajamas feeling deliciously at ease now that I was back here, in my own space, in my own clothes, surrounded by people I loved. But his presence was unnerving.

  Something had changed in him since last night. He had been running hot and cold since we left Romania and before that, he’d never really seemed consistent with his feelings or his affection. Sure, we’d gotten along and there were parts about him that I could read as easily as I knew myself. But, there were always these other pieces of him that remained completely hidden and mysterious to me. Before now, he’d always kept part of himself away from me. Whether that was self-preservation or natural instinct, I didn’t know, but it didn’t really matter at the time.

  I did the same thing.

  Except now, I was finding it harder and harder to keep space between us.

  He looked at me less like I was a problem to solve and more and more like I was a problem he wanted to become. I wasn’t the damsel in distress anymore that he could save.

  I was the hunted and he the hunter.

  I was prey that he stalked with unrelenting focus, that he would pursue until he made me his.

  But would he keep me gently?

  Or devour me until there was nothing left?

  That kiss last night… there had been nothing gentle about that. He was ferocious with need and completely debilitated me. It had taken me hours to fall asleep after that, even after the eventful day we’d had. He’d somehow kissed me deep enough to change some secretive part of me, some soul-deep, fundamental part. I would never be the same after that.

  Never.

  “Good morning, Jericho,” my dad greeted him. I sucked in a deep breath when Jericho’s eyes finally released mine from captivity.

  Devour. Consume. Possess.

  There was definitely nothing gentle about what he wanted for me.

  That much was certain.

  “Did you sleep alright?” my mom asked politely.

  “Yes, thank you,” he smiled at her, charming her into believing he was the perfect gentleman, no doubt.

  Which he was… or could be… or used to be.

  This was confusing.

  “Livie was just going to make us breakfast,” my mom told him. “Why don’t you sit down and keep her company.”

  “I’d love to,” Jericho replied grinning like he just won some big prize.

  I rolled my eyes and turned my back on my traitorous parents. They were surprisingly chill with him and all this. I knew they trusted me… but this was like, beyond normal parental expectations. Maybe I wasn’t the only one that had transformed.

  Note to self: Ask Jericho if Pod People are real.

  They gathered their coffee cups and their shared newspaper and slipped into the living room. They were supposed to have been crazy with worry and anxiety for me. They were supposed to hover until they drove me crazy and irritated me with thousands of questions. But they’d already told me how relieved they felt because of Jericho and how protective he seemed of me. They’d admitted this morning that while they still felt sick with nerves for me and O, Jericho seemed the kind of guy that would keep his word and keep us safe.

  In a way, I knew that they saw exactly what I did. From the moment I met Jericho, I knew I could trust him. And I was glad that my parents felt that too.

  On the other hand, it was really obnoxious that he’d won them over so easily.

  They were the last line of defense against the assault of his Magic, intensity of emotions and mind-blowing kisses.

  Now it was just me against him. The future I had always wanted against the fate he represented.

  The biggest problem of all, though, was that my own priorities were starting to change. I couldn’t picture the same future I had imagined for myself all these years anymore. I didn’t have a clear image of what my life would be like in five years… in ten… in twenty.

  My goals had always been my tether to hope and certainty.

  And now I only had Jericho.

  But was he enough?

  “What are you making for breakfast?” Jericho asked casually from across the white-tiled island.

  I nibbled on the corner of my lip. “Uh, nothing special. Eggs benedict.”

  “Can I help?”

  “Sure.”

  And we got to work. I gave him the choice of the hollandaise sauce or the biscuits. He chose the sauce, which made me a little nervous, but after a few minutes he seemed to know what he was doing. I ignored the different spices he began to add before my control-freak tendencies took over. I focused on rolling out my world-famous cheddar biscuits. Okay, they weren’t exactly world-famous, but they were a family favorite.

  When his sauce was thickening on the stove and my biscuits were rising in the oven, I handed over the Canadian bacon and let him fry it in a pan next to my pot of boiling water. I set about poaching the eggs and we stood side by side as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  But it also wasn’t natural at the same time. He hadn’t lied when he told me he could cook. He was absolutely proficient in the kitchen.

  And it was by far the sexiest he had ever been.

  I was such a goner.

  He found as many moments as he could to touch me. His hand would brush mine, or slide across my waist when he leaned in to reach for something. Right now, his thigh pressed gently into mine and his muscled chest warmed my back while he pretended to inspect my swirling eggs.

  By the time the table was set and my family gathered around it, Jericho had found a way to keep his hands on me for an entire hour. Even now he looked across the table in such a way that made his gaze feel like a physical caress.

  What was he doing?

  My family fell into easy conversation, despite our combined concern for Ophelia. I constantly assured my parents that she was safe and Orion that he was, too.

  Jericho backed me up with every reassurance and explained a great deal about his Kingdom to my parents. He went over the old Monarchy and the new Kings and Queens and how there were four of them and why. He explained his position in the government and my parents were reluctantly impressed with the importance he held. He brushed it off modestly, but I could see how bothered he was by their clear respect.

  I knew Jericho didn’t like his job, but I realized right then and there that I was the only one. He hadn’t told anyone else about his dissatisfaction. And how could he? His closest friends were Kings and soldiers, the very men that trusted him with their lives and revered his leadership. By the way he explained his station to my parents I could tell that it was natural for him to talk that way, to humbly but firmly reveal h
ow much authority he held. He wasn’t playing a part; he was living a life that had been forced on him, but that he accepted because he was loyal and because he was good.

  “Excuse me,” he stood toward the end of breakfast with his phone in his hand. “It’s the head of our Guard. I should take this.”

  My parents waved him and his impeccable manners off. He conferred one more polite smile at them and leveled me with a smoldering look that I couldn’t even begin to describe or fight before he walked into the other room and answered his call.

  As soon as he was gone, every eye swung my direction and pinned me with severe glares.

  “That boy is in love with you, Olivia,” my father declared with no small amount of shock.

  I blushed. “No, he’s not. We’re just close. We’ve been through a lot together.” Orion rolled his eyes but my parents just continued to stare. “He was the one that found O and me. He feels responsible for us, that’s all.”

  My mom actually snorted at this. “That is not responsibility, Babe. That’s love.”

  Before I could argue, my dad said, “I suppose you have a good reason for keeping him at a distance?”

  “Are you saying you approve of him?” I couldn’t even believe this. “You barely know him! Plus, he’s one of them!”

  “You’re also one of them now, Livie,” my mom reminded me sadly. “And maybe we just met him, but it’s easy to judge his character. You could do a lot worse than a man like him.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “But you don’t understand. They’re relationships are like… one and done.” My parent’s eyes grew big and Orion tried not to laugh. “Seriously. It has something to do with their Magic. It’s like worse than marriage. They can’t ever separate after they’ve, uh, connected.”

  “Oh,” my dad said with furrowed brows. “Well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Did you want to have lots of affairs?”